Our Last Chance
by Triplestriker
Summary: The Wildcats are soon going to be separated, drifting into different directions, following their future. They have one last chance to leave a legacy at East High, and they are very much determined to do so.


Triplestriker: Hiya! I'm the awesome, amazing Triplestriker! And no, that does _not_ relate to baseball. I'm talking about bowling here, people. Just so you know. Anyways, as I'm sure you all are aware of, I don't own anything related to High School Musical _whatsoever_. So, without further ado, I bring you _Our Last Chance_!

* * *

"Troy, stand still! Oh, look at your hair, it's sticking up in the back again! Ugh, you have toast stuck in your teeth! Do you want to go to school looking like this?"

"Luce, I think the boy knows how to take care of himself." Jack Bolton's voice came from the kitchen. Lucille Bolton turned to the kitchen door.

"Oh, but Jack, it's his first day of his senior year! And we don't have much time!"

"Mom, it's 5:30 in the morning." Troy groaned.

"Oh," his mother turned to the clock, and then shrugged. "Well, a bit of early preparation can't hurt, now can it?"

Troy moaned as he got up from the couch where his mother had been fussing over him. "I'm taking a shower."

"Hurry back! We still have to choose out the right clothes, put on sunscreen, whiten your teeth…"

Troy slammed the bathroom door and sighed. _Today, I am officially a high school senior_. He undressed and got into the shower. _The only question is, will I be able to survive it_?

* * *

"Lucille, school bus is here!"

"Oh, but we're not done washing his face!"

"Luce, you've been washing it for fifteen minutes!"

Troy raced from the bathroom and grabbed his bag, water still dripping from his face. Jack gave his son a hug.

"You sure you don't want me to ride you to school?"

"No dad, it's fine."

"Alright then." Jack Bolton released his son. Troy gasped for air, only to be squeezed again by his mother.

"Be good! Don't stress yourself! But be sure to do well! I love you!"

"Love you too, mom." Troy said, releasing himself. He opened the door and walked down the pavement as the bus halted to a stop. The door opened, and he got on board. He walked to the back of the bus, chatting kids all around him. He finally saw Chad and Ryan, sitting next to each other. Ryan was tossing his baseball up in the air and catching it again, while Chad was spinning his basketball on his finger. Chad grinned as he saw Troy.

"What's up, man? Today's the big day."

Troy smiled nodded. "You bet. Hey, Ryan."

"Yo." Ryan tucked the baseball away into his pocket. Ryan and Troy hadn't been on very good terms until the night of the Lava Springs Talent Show, where they had finally accepted each other as friends. Troy had become close to Ryan since then, but Chad and Ryan had gotten even closer. The three often met during the summer for a basketball or baseball game.

"So," Troy sat down on the aisle across from them. "Do you know who our homeroom teacher this year is?"

"Darbus," Chad said, the smile disappearing off his face. "She moved up. Just to torture us, I'm pretty sure." Chad turned to Ryan. "Should please you though, eh, theater boy?"

"Oh, sure. Please _me_." Ryan laughed. "Don't think I didn't see that kiss you gave her at the end of last year, lover boy."

"Nice one." Troy grinned, reaching over and slapping Ryan's hand. Chad had turned red.

"Don't know what you're talking about."

As they drew nearer to the school, more kids came onto the bus. Chad excused himself once Taylor came onto the bus to sit with her, and Jason came and sat down in his place.

"So, your dad not driving you to school?" Ryan asked Troy.

"Nah, more fun to ride the bus on the first day back. Wasn't your sister going to drive you to school, though?"

"Oh, she did." Ryan vigorously nodded. "But I couldn't take anymore of her singing along to Miley Cyrus and Britney Spears, so I told her to drop me off at the first bus stop she could."

"So… she's not coming on the bus?"

Zeke had sat down next to Troy, and was looking at Ryan. Ryan smiled.

"No, but I know she's going to the mall after school today with some of her Lava Springs friends."

Zeke's eyes lit up. "I'll be there!"

The bus halted to a stop in front of the school, and all of the wildcats got off. Troy quickly scanned the yard, looking for Gabriella. When he found her, walking with Kelsi towards the school, he gave a joyful wave. She smiled and waved back. Troy ran to the two girls, nearly tripping over his own feet on the way.

"What's up?" Troy breathed, leaning over to inhale air. Gabriella laughed.

"Well, we _were_ peacefully walking to our homeroom class until you nearly ran us over."

"Sorry 'bout that." Troy said, drawing himself up. "How are you doing, Kelsi?"

"Surviving. Or _trying_ to." Kelsi rolled her eyes. "I'm pretty sure Mrs. Darbus is moving up just-"

"-to torture us, yeah." Troy smiled. He turned to Gabriella. "What's your survival plan?"

Gabriella's smile faltered a bit. "Didn't I tell you? I've got Mrs. Williams as my homeroom teacher this year. I _wish_ I could help you in the never ending fight against Darbus."

"Oh," Troy bent down to tie his shoelaces. "Well, then, who's in your class?"

"Zeke, Jason, Sharpay and Martha." Gabriella recited. "I just hope Sharpay really _has_ changed over the summer."

"Well, she still listens to Britney Spears and Miley Cyrus." Troy muttered, getting up.

"I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing." Gabriella sighed. "Alright, I've got to go, Troy."

"Alright, me too. See you at lunch." Gabriella left, leaving just Kelsi and Troy.

"So, what'd you do over the summer, Kels?"

"Not much. Me and Ryan wrote a lot of music, and me and Taylor took swimming lessons."

"Awesome." The two walked into room 305. Taylor was unloading her bag, while Ryan and Chad argued over who was better, the Mets or the Yankees. Troy drew up a seat next to them.

"Dude, come on!! You _know_ the Mets are better!" Ryan threw his hands up in exasperation.

"Are you _serious_?" Chad shook his head. "You're muddled in the head, Ryan."

Ryan opened his mouth to make a comeback, but suddenly, Mrs. Darbus walked into the room.

"Take your seats, class. And _please_, turn off your cell phones!"

The class hushed. Troy reached into his pocket and quickly pressed the OFF button on his phone.

"First of all, I'd like to welcome you all until the senior year. This will be one of the most grueling, difficult school years in your young life."

"Great. I feel really good about this year now." Chad muttered.

"Danforth! Detention! 20 minutes!"

Chad's jaw dropped open. "B-but Mrs. Darbus, it's not even a minute into the first day of school, and-"

"I don't want to hear excuses! I want to hear an apology!" Mrs. Darbus peered at Chad over her glasses. Chad sighed.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Darbus."

"That's better." Mrs. Darbus gave a satisfied nod. "As I was saying, the senior year is like the final musical number in a play, leaving a memorable final performance. Soon, the play will be over, and you will move onto Broadway as your career progresses, and…"

"Oh god, not the lecture…" Troy quietly groaned.

"Yes, you are moving on in your lives, like character progression during a fantastic play that is life, where you want to leave a good first impression on the audience by doing well…"

* * *

Troy thanked the lunch lady and walked over to a table. Chad was talking to Taylor, Ryan and Kelsi were leaning over a sheet of paper with many musical symbols on them, Gabriella and Martha were comparing notes for their science class, Jason was gobbling down his tuna casserole, and Zeke was attempting to talk to Sharpay, who was gabbing with her friends on her pink Blackberry. Troy sat down between Gabriella and Taylor.

"What's up?" he peered at Gabriella's science notes over her shoulder. She smiled.

"Sorry," she said, tucking her notes in her bag. "I probably shouldn't be studying during lunch."

"No prob." Troy took a big bite out of his turkey sandwich. "Hi, Martha."

"Hello, Troy," Martha put her notes in her bag as well. "How's life in the Darbus classroom?"

"Oh, you know. Everything's red curtains and musical numbers with Darbus." Troy took a sip of milk. "She hasn't changed one bit."

"I didn't think she would." Martha ate a potato chip.

"Well, speak of the devil." Gabriella muttered. Mrs. Darbus had just appeared behind Ryan and Kelsi.

"Ryan, you know the rules; hats off during lunch." Mrs. Darbus took off Ryan's hat and set it next to his tray. "And Sharpay, I don't know how many times I've expressed my dislike for cell phones." She took Sharpay's cell phone and pressed the off button. Sharpay's expression was priceless. "And Danforth, shirt tucked in. Don't you roll your eyes at me! I have a mind to give this whole table detention right now!" Mrs. Darbus stormed away. Ryan sighed and put his hat back on. Kelsi smiled.

"So, are we agreed on _you know how life can be, it changes overnight_?" she asked. Ryan nodded.

"Yeah, I guess. I'm still partial to _it makes me dizzy, just looking into your eyes_." Ryan shrugged. Kelsi scribbled something down on the paper.

"What are you two doing?" Troy glimpsed over his sandwich. Kelsi smiled.

"Writing music. The spring musical is coming up," she responded. "And we want to be fully prepared."

"It's no fun to work under pressure." Ryan added in. Troy nodded thoughtfully.

"Can I look at it?"

Kelsi handed the paper over. Troy looked at it for a couple minutes.

"This is fantastic," he handed the paper back. "When did you and Ryan start writing this?"

"During biology." Ryan admitted. Troy's eyes nearly popped open.

"You wrote this masterpiece during biology?"

"Well, we also worked on it for 15 minutes of our free period." Kelsi admitted. Troy shook his head.

"You two are amazing."

"Matter of opinion." Ryan grinned, taking the paper back. Troy rolled his eyes and turned back, wondering how anyone could be as modest as those two. The bell suddenly rang, and everyone got up to put their trays away. Troy turned to Chad.

"What've we got next?"

"Science with Mr. Baker," he said, looking at his schedule. "And then, after that, gym," he got up to put his tray away. Troy followed.

"Listen, man, I was thinking…"

"Well that's a first."

"That we should have a get-together after school today. Like, go get some pizza or something with all of these wildcats to celebrate the start of our senior year."

"Doesn't sound like something _I'd_ celebrate."

Troy rolled his eyes. "Do you have to be so pessimistic?"

Chad turned to him, grinning. "I'm kidding, man. It sounds like a great idea. We'll spread the idea around during gym. Maybe we can go to Luigi's pizzeria; the food is always good there, and they have a big table in the back."

"Do you think it'll be available?"

"If I reserve it, it will." Chad flipped open his cell phone. Troy put his tray away.

"Just make sure Darbus doesn't see you. It'll be no good if you get detention."

* * *

"Come on, Troy, hustle! That's it, get open! Look, Martha's open for a clear shot! That's it! Nice shot!"

Jack Bolton ran along the sidelines of the basketball court, while the seniors played basketball in their gym period. Chad's team was beating Troy's team by approximately one point now. Chad ran it back and passed to Sharpay, who was open, but frightened, she jumped out of the way. Troy swooped in, stole the ball, and ran back to the other side of the court, where he made a layup. The bell rang.

"Troy's team wins by one point!" Jack Bolton announced. Troy smiled, and grabbed a towel, washing up his face.

"I'll see you later today, Dad." He exited the gym with the other kids. Jack Bolton smiled. Oh, how his son had grown.

He scooped up a basketball and put it on the rack. He remembered when Troy had played his first basketball game. It was nearly 10 years ago, when he had just started teaching at East High. Troy had been so nervous; he didn't go out for the first half of the game. The opposing team was scoring baskets like crazy, and they were trailing 6-19. But when Troy came out on the second half, he had put it to 15-22 on the 3rd quarter, and then clobbered the opposing team in the last quarter, leading them 37-26. Jack walked to his office. Those were the good old days.

And this was why he had been so reluctant to let Troy go on with his singing career. He had become the paperclip of the team, that held everyone together. If Troy was gone, then everything would fall apart. And if Troy was focused on music, the team would, no way, no how, beat the West High Knights.

But he had finally accepted Troy's love for music. He, Jack Bolton, was not God; he knew he had to let Troy do what he wanted to do with his life. And, as he always said, things had a way of working themselves out. And, sure enough, Troy had sang in the Lava Springs talent show, was learning how to play the guitar, and singing in his room for half an hour every night, but was still on top in basketball.

Jack especially wanted to make sure his son was focused on basketball during this year. Troy was sure to get a scholarship, if he kept on being himself on the court and shooting those hoops. Jack loved Troy very much, and wanted his son only to have the best in his future. And he was sure Troy could achieve it.

* * *

Troy coughed and got up, tapping on his glass with his spoon. Chad had told everyone about the little get-together he and Troy had planned, and the table was crowded as hell. Troy cleared his throat.

"I thought I'd bring you all together today to celebrate. We are now high school seniors,"

A large cheer emitted from the Wildcats. Troy smiled.

"College is right ahead of us. Our future lies in the distance, waiting to be found. I sincerely hope that this year, we will find it, and enjoy ourselves in our last year at East High."

Troy sat down, to a large round of applause.

"What are you, a poet or something?" Chad asked grinning. He put on a mock serious face. "Our future lies ahead of us. What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, ignore him, Troy." Gabriella laughed. "You were great."

Troy smiled. He already felt back at home, and all of the butterflies in his stomach had fluttered away. Maybe his senior year wouldn't be so bad after all.


End file.
